Mary Ellen Mark: Solo Exhibition & Limited Edition Print

Blue Sky News Flash!
We are delighted to announce that in March 2011, Blue Sky will be presenting photographer Mary Ellen Mark's first solo exhibition in Portland. We're dedicating the entire gallery to her work, showing original prints from both "Falkland Road" and "Ward 81."

It's exciting to be able to offer this pairing during our 35th anniversary year, as both bodies of work were made during Blue Sky's early days as an organization. And the subject matter of "Ward 81"--the former women's security ward of the Oregon State Hospital--is particularly resonant today as the state considers how to memorialize the legacy of former patients through a significant public art project. (For more details, read the Oregon Art Commission's Invitation to Artists.)

But wait...there's more! Blue Sky and Mary Ellen Mark have collaborated to create an exclusive limited edition membership print. As part of our partnership with the Impossible Project, Mary Ellen took one of her cherished Polaroid Spectra cameras and some Silver Shade PZ600 film and set off for this year's African American Day Parade in New York City. She scanned one of her favorite instant photos from the day, and created an edition of five 20" X 24" signed and numbered prints for Blue Sky's Print Membership Program. Here it is, "Girl with a Big Bow":

We're offering this marvelous print at a new $1000 level--which includes all of our great Book Level benefits, too! There are only FIVE prints available exclusively through Blue Sky, so join today and help us celebrate Mary Ellen Mark's amazing career. And with the holidays upon us, wouldn't it make the perfect gift for the art-lover in your life?

Blue Sky, the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, is a nonprofit exhibition space and community research center dedicated to educating the public about photography through exhibitions, public programs, and publications, and dialogue; and to furthering the careers and artistic development of the artists we show.